Gnomes, called Gnommi in their own language of Ghassally, and Moorfolk by the Middenlanders,[6a] are a mysterious, small-framed, humanoid race that lives in the hidden recesses of the Old World.[4a]
Infused by the essence of Ulgu, the Grey Wind of Magic, Gnomes are natural tricksters and usually live withdrawn from the rest of the people of the Empire, in whose territory their reclusive clans reside.[4a]
History[]
Gnomes and the Empire[]
As far as most of the Empire is concerned, Gnomes are a myth, found only in over-blown Bretonnian romances or Altdorf pfennig-dreadfuls where they frequently appear as magical tricksters. However, there is truth behind the stories, for Gnomes are not only real, but they live in the Empire.[4a]
However, Gnomes are notoriously clannish and almost never mix with the other mortal races. Most confuse them for Halflings. Because of this, Gnomes seeking unquestioned passage through the Empire often shave any facial hair and wear bulky clothes or padding to hide their far thinner frames. Whilst this would never fool a Halfling, it is usually enough to convince others.[4a]
Since the establishment of the Imperial Colleges of Magic, Gnomes have found themselves hounded by the Magisters of the Grey Order and witch hunters. As creatures inherently infused with the Winds of Magic, they have often been deemed a threat. Since the formation of the Colleges of Magic, the Gnome clans have become even more isolated and mistrusting of outsiders.[4b]
In the duchies bordering the Mirror Moors and the nearby Midden Marshes, Gnomes are relatively well-known as they are often found abroad as entertainers, wandering pedlars, or merchants. Locally, they are known as "Moorfolk," a secretive people with untrusting natures who fish the Midden Marshes.[4c]
Rumours of Moorfolk practicing forbidden magics are common, which attracts witch hunters to the region in significant numbers, though few find anything more than open moors and the dangerous local fauna, including River Trolls, Fen Worms, and Bog Octopuses.[4c]
Notable Events[]
- 2304 IC - Founding of the Colleges of Magic in Altdorf. Gnome clans have become even more isolated and mistrusting of outsiders.[4b]
- 2398 IC - For reasons unrecorded, Graf Dieter refuses the services of a jester bequeathed to Middenheim by the Chieftain of Glimdwarrow.[5a]
- 2423 IC - Waaagh! Grom is unleashed. A horde of Orcs and Goblins commanded by the Goblin Warlord Grom the Paunch sweeps across the Empire, pillaging as it goes.[5a] The Greenskins raid Glimdwarrow, causing a high death toll among the Gnomes.[4a]
Anatomy and Physiology[]
Short, wiry, with bulbous noses, and large, rounded ears, Gnomes have thick hair, dexterous fingers, and gruff voices that can be surprisingly deep for such diminutive folk.[4a] The can live for up to 500 years.[4d] Gnomes are a close-knit, clannish people, putting family and personal loyalty ahead of most other concerns with a stubborn tenacity that can surprise even the most intractable Dwarf. Much as the legends suggest, Gnomes are an inherently magical people, and share a close relationship with Ulgu, the magical wind of shadows, illusions, and deceit.[3a][4a]
When seen by an individual who possesses witchsight, Gnomes are revealed to be permanently shrouded in grey mists. Every Gnome, even non-wizards, can channel Ulgu to some extent to hide themselves and objects they have touched.[4c] As a side effect of this innate connection to the Grey Wind of Magic, the eyes of every Gnome eventually turn grey as they age.[4d] Additionally, because of their innate connection to Ulgu, Gnomish wizards discover that their abilities are restricted to only the practice of the Lore of Shadow or the darker forms of magic such as necromancy or the channelling of Dhar.[4c]
Because of the danger it represents, both from the dark forces they meddle with and in the form of retribution from agents of the Empire, using the darker arts is strictly forbidden among the Gnome clans.[4c]
Gnomes make poor horsemen, preferring to travel by carts or by foot rather than on horseback. When forced to ride they favour small, inoffensive horses, mules or donkeys.[3a]
Social Organisation[]
Gnomes are organised in clans that have stood for centuries and that reside in hidden settlements called "burrows." A Gnome's clan name is inherited from the mother, and never changes, even when a Gnome marries. Many Gnomes, secretive folk such as they are, prefer to keep their clan name secret, and instead offer an epithet as a surname. These names are often descriptive, self-mocking, and sometimes sardonic, such as "Mudfoot," "Glittereye," "Soleheart," or "Patchcloak."[4d]
Glimdwarrow is the largest Gnome settlement within the Empire, though rumours claim others lie beneath the Grey Mountains in Reikland, the Middle Mountains in Middenland, and the Kölsa Hills of Talabecland. Glimdwarrow itself lies hidden below the Mirror Moors to the south of Middenland, its burrows and halls cloaked by powerful illusions and vigilantly guarded by the Dwarrow Guard, an elite unit of Gnome warrior-wizards.[4a]
Glimdwarrow once boasted a bustling population of many thousands, but a century ago the Greenskin hordes of Grom the Paunch swept through the Mirror Moors and massacred almost all the Gnomes hiding there. Today, Glimdwarrow's crumbling chambers are largely empty, and only eight Gnome clans survive. Ruled by troubled Merawidda Frayne, the so-called "Ashen Queen," the leaders of the remaining clans openly hate each other, each blaming the others for the horrors Grom's Greenskins unleashed upon them.[4a]
Glimdwarrow now numbers only a thousand inhabitants. Like other Gnomish settlements it is run along complex hierarchical lines, but each member of the community has several different roles, and correspondingly different status according to which role they are filling at any given time.[2a]
Gnomes share the Dwarfs' hatred of Greenskins, having suffered years of mutual enmity and conflict.[3a]
Gnomic society invariably strikes outsiders as an incomprehensible confusion. Even their cousins, the Dwarfs, find it difficult to fathom the significance of the innumerable Gnomish customs and rules of etiquette. In each community, there is a clan overlord who acts as a sort of head of state, there is a religious leader who deals with matters spiritual, a craftsmaster who supervises mining and smithing activities, and a loremaster who guards the secrets of the clan's history, preserves its learning, and ensures that ancient customs and rituals are observed with clockwork precision (a sort of "metro-gnome"!). Some clans also have a spellmaster who passes on the Gnomic skills in illusion-weaving to those few Gnomes deemed worthy of such an apprenticeship. Then, of course, the society's warriors are trained in the use of weapons and assigned to the Gnome guard.[2a]
Often labelled as "thieving stunties" by the others, there are highly skilled illusionists amongst their number, for, unlike Dwarfs, some of them have a great natural aptitude for this kind of magic, the wind of Ulgu. Gnomes are also excellent smiths and craftsmen, and are fascinated -- not to say obsessed -- by all things mechanical; they love gadgets of all kinds. Few Gnomes actually live as part of Human society, but they profit greatly from trade in Gnomish artefacts.[2a]
Most Gnomes are great practical jokers; there's nothing they like better than a good laugh at someone else's expense. But woe betide the man or woman who dares to extract the Michael from a Gnome, especially if be or she dares to make any derogatory comments about the Gnome's lack of stature. Not for nothing do they have a reputation for being short-tempered and difficult to get on with.[2a]
A few Gnomes lived amongst Human society, but this was far less common than in the case of Dwarfs. The great majority lived in tiny isolated settlements in or underneath the Worlds Edge Mountains. At one time these communities were linked to the underground Karaz Ankor empire of the Dwarfs that stretched from Norsca to the Southlands, but now the interconnecting tunnels and the interlinked system of watch towers were either destroyed or infested by Goblins. Gnomish communities also existed throughout the Old World, where they favored rocky outcrops and hills such as the Mirror Moors in the Empire, where Glimdwarrow, one of the largest Gnome communities, was situated.[3a] Like other Gnomish settlements it is run along complex hierarchical lines, but each member of the community has several different roles, and correspondingly different status according to which role they are currerntly filling.[2a]
Gnomic communities found in the Old World were only slightly less numerous than Halfling ones before their departure after the establishing of the Colleges of Magic and the casualties brought to Glimdwarrow by Grom the Paunch's Waaagh!.[4b][5a] Even if they did not easily mix with the other intelligent races, they were by no means as secretive and withdrawn as, for example, the Eonir of the Laurelorn Forest. Gnome pedlars were a relatively common sight, and Gnome smiths and engineers were accorded almost as much respect as their Dwarfen counterparts -- often more, but this was usually from fear of their acrobatic wit and sharp-tongued sarcasm. Indeed, it was probably the Gnomic capacity for vitriol which led to the appointment of a Gnome as Imperial Court Jester as long ago as 1143 IC; since then such appointments have become a tradition, and one which the current Emperor Karl Franz has continued to maintain.[2a]
Gnomes were ideally suited to this role. It was true that they rarely remained in the job for long -- sooner or later they either got fed up with being isolated from their own kind, or got carried away and had to be dismissed for insulting some visiting dignitary. Nevertheless, those Imperial nobles unable to find a Gnomish jester had often been heard to bemoan the fact that they "didn't have a Gnome to go to."[2a]
Nevertheless, Gnomes preferred to live among other Gnomes in self-contained, isolated communities. These were invariably burrows or cavern networks beneath the Empire's numerous limestone plateaus and other hill ranges. The Gnomish fondness for fishing was almost as infamous as their love of practical jokes, and no permanent settlement was ever established far from a well-stocked fishing lake or river (preferably underground). Indeed, the Gnomic skill with rod and line was almost legendary.[2a]
The largest Gnomic community in the Empire, Glimdwarrow, was to be found beneath the hill range known as the Mirror Moors and numbered nearly a thousand inhabitants. Like other Gnomish settlements, it was run along complex hierarchical lines, but each member of the community had several different roles, and correspondingly different status according to which role they were currently filling.[2a]
Foreign Relations[]
Dwarfs[]
Gnomes in the Empire,[3a] before becoming a myth,[4a] had often been described -- though never to their faces -- as small (or "petty") Dwarfs. Gnomes are smaller relatives of Dwarfs, sharing a similar cultural background, language, and temperament. As far as anyone knew, Gnomes had always lived alongside the Dwarfs, although in their own distinct settlements and never mixing with their larger cousins. It was quite likely that the two races had evolved physically and culturally together, probably from a common ancestor in ages past.[3a]
Gnomes were even rarer, even less prolific, and more isolationist than Dwarfs. It was not known whether Gnomes and Dwarfs interbred; few people would dare to quiz a member of either race on their sexual habits. It was, however, doubtful, as both races were proud and independent. There was nothing guaranteed to annoy a Gnome more than mistaking him for a Dwarf.[3a]
Gnome Clans[]
According to Gnome myth, there were originally 444 great clans of Gnomes. The gods created each clan for a specific purpose, which was secretly imparted to the Great Mother of each clan to pass on to her children. Today, few Gnomes believe such fables, but Gnome priests and priestesses continue to repeat the old stories, warning the surviving clans that they should never forget their original purposes.[4d]
Gnome Clans of Glimdwarrow[]
- Annearil
- Frayne
- Hawken
- Landweth
- Peddlar - Gnomes from Clan Peddlar have wandered the Empire for centuries, trading for goods and spying on their neighbours. Indeed, many scholars claim that the actual word "pedlar" finds its source in the name of this clan, and that the dangerous profession was introduced to the Empire by Gnomes.
- Scantleburn
- Thorne
- Trethewey
Gnome Religion[]
Gnomes believe the gods of the Gnome Pantheon created the Gnome species in a time of great need, tasking each clan with a specific purpose. Even though most of these legendary tasks are lost to myth, Gnomes typically have a very close relationship with their gods. Most pray before beginning any activities associated with one of their deities' portfolios, and it is common for Gnomes to make offerings to ensure they do not fall into divine disfavour. In general, no god is placed above any other; although each clan usually favours one god over the others for traditional reasons.[4d]
Those Gnomes who dedicate themselves to the service of the Gnome Pantheon, and ensure their chosen deity is appeased, draw respect from other Gnomes, as they understand just how capricious and difficult the gods can be. Gnomes looking for spiritual guidance in matters directly related to one of their gods will often turn to a priest for advice.[4d]
When abroad, Gnomes have no desire to offend the other gods, and often visit local temples and shrines to make appropriate offerings, which they feel will make it more likely they will pass through foreign lands safely.[4d]
Gnome Deities[]
Gnome Wizards[]
Gnomes can only learn the Lore of Shadow, Dark Magic, and Chaos Magic. Like Wood Elves, some Gnome wizards study Dark Magic, which results in significant interest from witch hunters; however, they recognise its dangers, and have outlawed necromancy and daemonology. Using Chaos Magic of any kind is strictly forbidden among the Gnome clans.[4d]
Gnome Names[]
Gnomes usually have a forename and a clan name, though those integrated into other races' cultures may conform to the local naming practices.[4d]
Gnome Forenames[]
Gnomes usually name their children following a traditional pattern. The firstborn is named after the grandmother on the mother's side or the grandfather on the father's side. The second born is named after the mother or father. The third is named for the grandmother on the father's side or the grandfather on the mother's side. And the fourth, and any subsequent children, are named after any other relations of importance. However, it is also common to name Gnome children after people important to the family, such as local rulers, those who have been of great service to the family, or close friends.[4b][4c]
Example Gnome Matrilineal Names[]
Elowen, Ia, Kerra, Ladoca, Metheven, Morwen, Steren, Tryfena.[4b]
Example Gnome Patrilineal Names[]
Breward, Daveth, Gwinear, Mawnan, Meriasek, Nivet, Talan, Ythel.[4b]
Notable Gnomes[]
- Alphonse Hercules de Gasgoigne - A famous detective.
- Merawidda Frayne - Merawidda Frayne, the so-called "Ashen Queen," is the leader of the remaining clans of Glimdwarrow, which openly blamine each others for the horrors Grom's Greenskins unleashed upon them.[2a]
Quotes[]
"Great Mother Tegen thinks she’s stubborn, always talking about 'ow it were Clan Landweth that caused all our problems, and 'ow she won't be persuaded otherwise. But, as Mabyn is me witness, she ain't got nothing on they Dwarfs. I've seen mountains more moveable when it comes to matters of gold."
- —Aelyn Thorne, Glimdwarrow Trader about Dwarfs[4b]
"I ain't ever met them, and I doubts I ever will. Probably no better than them other hoity-toity Elves from across the water."
- —Morkam "Kneebone", Mirror Moor Farmer about Wood Elves[4b]
"'Ere, after 200 years, I'm still jumping mad at them Elves. If it 'adn't been for they idiots, we'd still be accepted across the Empire. But, no, it's their way or nothing, and sadly that Emperor Magnus listened to those bloody Elves about what magic is. So, here we are, 'iding away, jumping at shadows."
- —Kywere Hawken, Glimdwarrow Illusionist about High Elves[4b]
"Little hellers, they are! Met a family of them on the road travelling to Nomenfast, and while one was making a good deal to me face for a tray of pins, the rest were in me wares attempting to half-inch all me gear. Ringol's Beard, I bet they got a shock when they got back to camp and found themselves light of their purses..."
"If it ain't their witch hunters chasing us for whatevers, or their lords looking to muscle us out, it's their traders looking to steal what's ours. But, they's our neighbours, so they are, so we 'ave to make do somehow. Best to keep our heads low, I says. Real low."
"So, she says to me, "Ain't much eating on you, eh?" Didn't bloody stop 'er trying though! Chased me across the moor, she did. For two days! Bloody wouldn't give up! Never met an Ogre that didn't look at me the way I look at a Rumster's pie, so I runs whenever I see 'un of they idiots. Safest that way."
- —Jowanet Scantleburn, Herbalist of the Midden Marshes about Ogres[4b]
Miniatures[]
Canon Conflict[]
A Gnome warrior proudly displays his beard.[3a]
In older editions of Warhammer, Gnomes were much more present within the Empire as a minor race, serving at the Imperial Court and famed among all the peoples of the Empire for their jokes and wit even in the 26th century IC.[2a] The race was considered to have been retconned out of theWarhammer Fantasy Battle canon, until they were mentioned again in the 4th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.[3a]
With the introduction of the 4th Edition of Warhammaer Fantasy Roleplay the Gnomes' role in the narrative of the Warhammer setting has changed significantly, given that they are now a race hunted by witch hunters since they practice magic -- often the Lore of Shadow -- without the supervision of the Colleges of Magic.[4c]
Andy Law, one of the authors of the Gnomes' background, has further explored the society of the Gnomes, but only in unofficial publications.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Apocrypha Now (RPG)
- 1a: pp. 60-63
- 2: White Dwarf 86
- 2a: pp. 28-31
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Rulebook (3rd Edition)
- 3a: pp. 218-219
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Rough Nights and Hard Days (RPG)
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Middenheim City of the White Wolf (RPG)
- 5a: pg. 15
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Archives of the Empire Vol I (RPG)
- 6a: pg. 10